Demobilization

Three weeks from the conclusion of a fragile peace process, El Salvador's leftist guerrillas Tuesday suspended the demobilization of their army, charging that the government has failed to make good on promises to give land to squatters. Guerrilla commander Shafik Handal said no more rebels will lay down their weapons until the government gives legal guarantees that peasants and some former fighters who have occupied farmland will not be evicted. Under U.N.

TRUJILLO, Colombia - The 11,000 coffee bushes clinging to the steep slopes of his 10-acre farm represent nothing less than a miracle to former rebel Jose Manuel Ospina, and a sign of the stiff challenges facing Colombia's new effort to end half a century of civil war. Ospina and his son were members of the 21st Front of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been at war with the government for 48 years. The two laid down their arms in 2005 and enrolled in a program to bring them back into the mainstream of society.

Rightist paramilitary groups suspended their demobilization process with the Colombian government to protest President Alvaro Uribe's decision to jail paramilitary leader Diego Fernando Murillo, who is wanted in New York on drug trafficking charges. The statement came from Ernesto Baez, spokesman for the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia. Colombia has ruled out extraditing Murillo as long as he gives up crime and complies with a peace accord.

Just days before a NATO summit that leaders had hoped would present a carefully scripted display of unity on Afghanistan, the inauguration of a French president committed to an early drawdown has instead intensified a rush for the exits from an unpopular war. In advance of this weekend's summit in Chicago, the Obama administration and senior North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials have been scrambling to ensure that alliance members remain...

The four parties in Cambodia's civil war opened a climactic round of peace talks Monday with sharp differences over the scale of proposed demobilization by each faction's army. Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who was deposed as Cambodia's leader in 1970 but is now presiding over the peace talks, said he is concerned that even if an agreement is reached among the factions, the United States might veto the deal.

Facing criticism that he is being too lenient with right-wing paramilitary fighters, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has mounted a diplomatic offensive to win international support for legislation that grants light sentences to some of this country's most notorious combatants in exchange for demobilizing.

Past bombed-out buildings and burned-out cars, near grim skull-and-crossbones signs for a roadside minefield, a dusty cluster of military tents here holds the hopes for lasting peace in Africa's longest civil war. But Angola has dashed such hopes before. And despite a shaky 14 1/2-month cease-fire after two decades of death and devastation, it may be doing it again.

Qudusam Sile was only 15 when she fired an AK-47 assault rifle for the first time. The tiny, ponytailed Eritrean was not much older when she killed the first of a dozen Ethiopian troops. During Africa's longest war of independence, Sile in turn took bullets in the back, leg and hand. "I was willing to do anything, to kill and even to die, to free Eritrea," she said with neither bravado nor guilt.

The four factions in Cambodia's civil war reached agreement Tuesday on a formula for demobilizing their armed forces, clearing the way for an overall peace agreement to end 12 years of conflict. Prince Norodom Sihanouk, who was deposed as Cambodia's leader in 1970 and is now chairing peace talks between the factions, said that all four parties have agreed to cut their armies to 30% of their present size.

Indonesian police pulled out of Aceh province in a goodwill gesture as rebels prepared to hand over hundreds of weapons under a peace deal signed last month. The deal's success depends almost entirely on the disarmament and demobilization. The pact called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. It also said the rebels would have to surrender their weapons before year's end.

What is the logic behind the Obama administration's policy toward Afghanistan? On its face, it makes no sense. In 2009, President Obama ordered a major buildup of forces to counter alarming gains by the Taliban and the Haqqani network. The number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan increased from 34,000 when he took office to nearly 100,000 in 2010. To oversee the buildup he sent two top Army generals, Stanley A. McChrystal and then David H. Petraeus, to design and implement a comprehensive counterinsurgency plan that the president signed off on. In June of last year, however, Obama announced that 32,000 "surge" troops would come home by September 2012 - earlier than Petraeus and his superiors judged prudent.

After a follower of Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr vowed to dispatch militia members to defend Iraqi mosques in the wake of a series of deadly bombings, a statement from Sadr that was widely distributed Saturday made it clear that the Mahdi Army would be reactivated only if the government accepted the offer. The militia's fighters, who were involved in the bloody sectarian violence of Iraq's civil war, were demobilized in 2008 after major confrontations between Prime Minister Nouri Maliki's government and the armed group.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told Iraqi officials on a visit Sunday to Baghdad that America would need to improve its intelligence in their country after U.S. troops pull out. "If we are going to have a diminished physical military presence, we have to have a strong intelligence presence," Pelosi said after discussions with her Iraqi counterpart and other members of parliament. Pelosi, a strong critic of the U.S.

The last Salvadoran troops are home from Iraq, ending Latin America's military presence there. Five Salvadoran soldiers were killed and 20 wounded during the country's five-year deployment. Defense Minister Jorge Alberto Molina and relatives greeted 200 soldiers at an army base outside the capital of San Salvador. They had been based near the southeastern Shiite Muslim city of Kut. President Tony Saca had said El Salvador's troops would leave after the Dec. 31 expiration of a United Nations resolution authorizing the international coalition in Iraq.

Gabriel Hurles' 6th birthday party wasn't a surprise, but his present sure was. The kindergartner was so engrossed in the cupcakes his mother brought to his class on Wednesday that he didn't notice the enormous wrapped box off to the side. "That's one big giant present," a 6-year-old classmate told him. "See what you got, Gabriel." Gabriel peeled back the wrapping paper to find the surprise of his young life -- his father, an Army mechanic home on leave from his second tour in Iraq.

The Marines of the Two-Seven were not even supposed to deploy to Afghanistan. Their original destination was Iraq, and when they were sent here in April as a stopgap measure to help an overwhelmed NATO force, the plan had been to spend the time mentoring Afghan national police. It didn't turn out that way. Instead of training policemen, the lightly equipped 2nd Battalion, 7th Regiment of the 1st Marine Division found itself engaged in firefights with insurgent units of 100 or more fighters.

Fighters from three of Cambodia's four rival armies began reporting to U.N. sites across this Southeast Asian nation Saturday, the head of the U.N. peacekeepers said. But the Khmer Rouge guerrillas refused to take part in the U.N.-directed disarmament, raising the possibility of a new surge in fighting. Other factions have warned that they will respond in kind to any attacks. The Khmer Rouge has attacked several government positions over the last few weeks.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki warned in comments broadcast Friday that the top U.S. commander in Iraq "had risked his position" by suggesting that Iran tried to bribe Iraqi lawmakers to oppose a security agreement with the United States. Maliki's remarks were aired on state television as he convened the leaders of Iraq's political blocs to review the security agreement that would sanction U.S. troops staying in Iraq after a United Nations mandate expires Dec. 31.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada's troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan in 2011, as his minority government looks to win support in national elections next month. Harper, who has been a steadfast ally of President Bush in the post-Sept. 11 fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan, said Canadians do not want to keep their soldiers in Afghanistan beyond 10 years.